Parks, Stephen

John Dunton (1659-1732) was a London bookseller during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He was the son of Rev. John Dunton (1628-1676). After an apprenticeship from 1674 to 1681, Dunton went into business, primarily dealing in devotional works, sermons, political works, and chapbooks, as well as periodicals. The Athenian Gazette (1691-1697) was Dunton's most successful publication, and it influenced many eighteenth century periodicals. Another notable work was his Life and Errors of John Dunton, Citizen of London (1705), an early example of English autobiography. In his later years Dunton's bookselling business declined with his poor health, and he resorted to pamphleteering to support himself. He died in London on November 24, 1732.

Stephen Parks was the Curator of the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library from 1972 to 2004. Parks's study of John Dunton, John Dunton and the English Book Trade: A Study of His Career with a Checklist of his Publications was published by Garland Publishing, Inc. in 1976.

From the guide to the Stephen Parks research collection on John Dunton, 1962-1972, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

Charles Cotton (1630-1687) was an English poet and translator. He is best known for writing the second part of Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler .

Stephen Parks was the Curator of the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library from 1972 to 2004. Parks authenticated a Charles Cotton manuscript, "Contentation" (Osborn fb64), in his paper, "Charles Cotton and the Derby Manuscript" (in Stephen Parks and P.J. Croft, Literary Autographs, University of California, Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1983).

From the guide to the Stephen Parks research collection on Charles Cotton, 1962-1987, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)